When I Was The Forest

When I was the stream, when I was

the forest, when I was still the field
when I was every hoof, foot,
fin and wing, when I
was the sky

itself,

No one ever asked me did I have a purpose, no one ever
wondered was there anything I might need,
for there was nothing
I could not

love.

It was when I left all we once were that
the agony began, the fear and questions came,
and I wept, I wept. And tears
I had never known

before.

So I returned to the river, I returned to
the mountains. I asked for their hand in marriage again,
I begged—I begged to wed every object

and creature,

and when they accepted,
God was ever present in my arms.
And He did not say,
“Where have you
been?”

For then I knew my soul—every soul—
has always held
Him.

-- Meister Eckhart, 1260-1328